CALM Interventions: Behavioral Health Crisis Assessment, Linkage, and Management Improve Patient Care
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Julie A. Stephens; Eric J. Adkins; Susan D. Moffatt-Bruce; Laura Thompson; Natalie A Lester; John V. Campo; Kendal Herget; Thomas E Terndrup
- Source
- American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality. 33(1)
- Subject
- Adult
Male
Time Factors
Adolescent
Psychological intervention
Length of hospitalization
Patient care
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
0302 clinical medicine
Medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Retrospective Studies
Academic Medical Centers
business.industry
Health Policy
Mental Disorders
Racial Groups
Emergency department
Length of Stay
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
030227 psychiatry
Crisis Intervention
Female
Medical emergency
business
Emergency Service, Hospital
- Language
- ISSN
- 1555-824X
Emergency departments (EDs) have seen rising numbers of patients in psychiatric crises, patient boarding, and throughput delays. This study describes and evaluates the impact of a Crisis Assessment Linkage and Management (CALM) service designed to manage behavioral health crises. A year-to-year comparison was performed before (n = 2211 ED visits) and after implementation of CALM (n = 2387). CALM was associated with reductions in median ED and hospital length of stay (LOS) from 9.5 to 7.3 hours and 46.2 to 31.4 hours, respectively. Mean transformed ED LOS decreased by 32.4% ( P < .001). The CALM model improved patient care and throughput metrics by proactively managing behavioral health crises.